


Counting

by DarkMyst



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:04:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4262616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkMyst/pseuds/DarkMyst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had to keep themselves busy, to try and keep the morale of the other troops high. When the captains left, the lieutenants found themselves as next in command. It wasn’t really a big thing, they didn’t really do anything (except Andersmith, who worked tirelessly to help the troops), and all they tried to do was stay strong. Who knows where that had translated to ‘completely ignore that anything has gone wrong in the first place.’<br/>Maybe if they forgot, everything would go back to normal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Toadflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toadflame/pseuds/Toadflame) in the [RvB_Fic_War](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/RvB_Fic_War) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> You've been thrown together with no regard to who you are...so you best get to figuring out how you're gonna get along!
> 
> What? No, I'm not going to help you do that. What do you take me for, a counselor? This is a war!
> 
>  **Prompt:** Write a fic about a character who has gone through or is going through a difficult experience, or maybe one that's _very_ trying.

‘It’s a kind of empty feeling,’  
‘Alright.’  
‘I mean I know people have left before but…this is different,’  
‘Ok.’  
‘Tucker wanted to help me, he believed in me.’  
‘I believe he said he hated you a couple of times.’  
‘I miss him! Like I really miss him, what am I meant to do?’ Palomo said in a panicked voice.  
‘Um ok,’ Felix began, standing up to leave, ‘the thing is, I really don’t have time to talk to you about your problems right now. They died and that’s terrible, truly, but I have some things to go take care of, ok buddy, alright, bye now.’  
Felix stood up and grabbed his things from off the ground but before he could leave he turned to Palomo one last time.  
‘Oh, Palomo, one last thing.’  
He sniffed, ‘Yeah.’  
‘Don’t ever talk to me about your issues ever again.’ He rushed through his words, trying to hide the malicious intent underneath. ‘Ok pal, good, see you soon.’ He gave a little wave as he walked through the door, he didn’t wait for a response, he just left.  
‘Bye.’ Palomo muttered to himself. He found himself alone again, just him and the four walls of this room, the six empty coffee mugs, the three broken chairs and the twenty eight lights in the ceiling that were fitted into sixteen metal slats. He’d began to use counting as a therapy since Tucker had…gone. All of them had found something to do to keep themselves from think about it and none of them would use the D word.  
They had to keep themselves busy, to try and keep the morale of the other troops high. When the captains left, the lieutenants found themselves as next in command. It wasn’t really a big thing, they didn’t really do anything (except Andersmith, who worked tirelessly to help the troops), and all they tried to do was stay strong. Who knows where that had translated to ‘completely ignore that anything has gone wrong in the first place.’  
Maybe if they forgot, everything would go back to normal.  
But it didn’t.  
Even though nobody would say it out loud, everybody could hear the muffled tears form Jensen at 2:30 in the morning, everybody noticed Bitters sudden aggression, and everybody could see that Palomo was counting…  
The vehicles in the bay, the guns in the armoury, the days since they’d gone.  
Palomo pulled himself off the ground and began the small walk back to the lieutenant’s quarters, taking note of each step as he went. As he arrived, the door slid open to reveal Jensen sitting on the ground, working on what appeared to be an old warthog engine. It was the sixth one that week.  
‘Hey Jensen.’ He said quietly, not wanting to disturb her. Despite this, her head shot up rapidly and she turned to face him.  
‘Oh. Hey, Palomo. I thought you were Bitters getting back.’  
‘I don’t sound like Bitters.’ He uttered, his face remaining serious.  
‘I know that, I’ve just been a little…distracted lately. How did your talk with Felix go?’ She plastered a big grin across her face but her red puffy eyes seemed to show that it was fake. Palomo took a breath before answering.  
‘It went great!’ Palomo smiled, putting all his effort into convincing Jensen that things were ok.  
Things weren’t ever going to be ok again.  
He still couldn’t shake what Felix had said. Maybe if he could convince Jensen that everything was fine, he could convince himself that everything was ok too. As he talked, he couldn’t help but take a look at the clock.  
9 Days, 11 Hours, 16 minutes, 15 seconds  
16 seconds  
17 seconds  
18 seconds  
He got lost at that moment and just stood there, staring at the clock like an idiot. So lost that when Jensen spoke, he didn’t hear what she said.  
‘Huh, what?’ He asked, snapping out of his trance.  
‘I said,’ she started, ‘that sounds nice. It’s good that you are talking to people about your issues.’  
‘Thank, I think.’ He contemplated what she had said for a second. ‘Wait…I don’t have issues!’  
‘Oh, I know! I didn’t mean issues, I just meant your emotional instability.’ Her face went red. ‘No, no, I take that back too, I’m just trying to say…’  
‘Look,’ Palomo interrupted, ‘you, or anyone else here, is any better than me or right. None of us are ok.’  
She frowned and turned back to her work, ‘I’m fine,’ she remarks.  
‘Really Jensen, really, we all hear you, you know, crying at night, all because you’re precious “captain” is gone, everyone knows the real reason you care so much, we can all see it, you have a crush on him, don’t you? You love him!’ Palomo shouted.  
‘What?’ Her voice cracked as she spoke, genuine pain in her voice. ’Is that what it looked like?’  
‘Well, kinda!’ He exclaimed.  
She stood up and turned to face him. She looked down at her feet and crossed her right arm across her chest, nervously grabbing her left. ‘Listen, I don’t like Simmons…I don’t like guys…that way.’  
‘Oh.’ He said, his eyes widened.  
‘He just, I never had a brother growing up and he just was like that big brother I never had. He cared about me.’ Jensen looked up at Palomo who was just standing there wide-eyed. ‘Are you ok?’ She asked.  
‘You never had a brother?’ He asked back.  
She shook her head.  
‘I’m sorry, Jensen.’  
‘Don’t worry. It’s not your fault.’  
‘No! Not for that. I’m sorry for staring at your butt. Ok, that sounds weird. Let me try and start this again. I’m sorry for generally just being a little shit. It was wrong, everything I did before, this shouldn’t make a difference really, but I’m just really sorry and really want to stay your friend because you are cool and awesome and are really good at what you do and I’m sorry I put you under all that pressure.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Ok that’s it…did I fuck up because you’re just standing there and staring at me?’  
She stood there, her mouth wide before, looking at him for a second, before she just started to cry.  
Oh fuck… ’Look Jensen, I’m sorry.’ He started.  
‘Why are you apologizing?’ She spoke though the tears and he looked over to see she was smiling. She ran over and hugged him tightly. He stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do, before slowly putting his own arms around her, ‘Thank you.’ She said.  
At that moment the door slid open and Bitters walked in. ‘Jensen, I have your things…what the fuck!’ He looked over and saw them hugging, they quickly let go and turned to face him. ‘Are you two like at thing now?!?!’ He sighed. ‘You know what?! I don’t care. I’m going to go now.’ With that he left, walking into the next room, the lieutenants sleeping quarters. Jensen looked down at the floor and began to walk away.  
‘Wait, where are you going?’ Palomo asked.  
‘You know, it is getting late, Andersmith will be back soon. Maybe we should get some sleep.’  
‘You seem stressed.’ He said.  
‘Not really…well maybe a little.’ She replied.  
‘Have you tried counting?’  
‘What?’  
Palomo grabbed her. ‘Come on, I want to show you something.’  
They ran through the camp together quickly.  
‘Palomo! Where are we going?!’ Jensen asked loudly.  
‘Look, trust me, I’m going to show you something really cool.’  
Finally reached the edge of the camp, no one else was about. It seemed deserted. Jensen didn’t even think she had been here before.  
‘Look!’ Palomo pointed through a small crack in the rock.  
Jensen looked up. ‘Um, are those stars?’  
‘Yeah!’ He said excitedly, ‘But, you can’t see them from anywhere else in the camp and they are really relaxing to sit here and count.’  
‘Ok.’ Jensen said as she sat down and sighed. ‘They’re dead, we keep saying they’re gone or away but they’re dead. ‘  
‘Yeah, yeah,’ Palomo said, turning his head to look down at her, ‘but they died for us, to protect us!’  
With that the speakers around the camp came to life, Kimball’s voice echoed through the camp. ’A reminder that we will be leading the first charge on the Capital tomorrow. We might not be the most prepared, and some of us are not going to make it back alive. But we have to fight for what we believe in! And we have to do it now! Or we might not get the chance.’  
Jensen looked down at the floor again, pulling her knees close to her chest. Palomo frowned and turned back to look at the stars, muttering to himself.  
‘And now, we are probably going to die for them.’


End file.
